I thought it would be interesting to do a post on making a pot of stew, as such dishes are so incredibly flexible and forgiving. This will be a beef stew, and I made it quickly in a pressure cooker (Instant Pot), but it can also be made on the stovetop or in the oven. It would just take longer and use more energy. With inflation and the Trump tariff taxes, cooking at home has become a must.

There is no formal recipe; I’ll describe my method more in the step-by-step photos below.

Place your electric pressure cooker on “sear” and preheat for about 5 minutes. Add some oil, and when the oil is hot, add your seasoned stew meat. Don’t overcrowd the meat. If you have a lot of meat, brown it in two batches. I just sprinkled a little seasoned salt on the meat, but you could use whatever you like, or just salt and pepper. Browning the meat adds flavor and makes it juicier.

The brown meat was removed, and I deglazed the pot with a little red wine. Anything acidic works well for deglazing, but in a pinch, a little water will also do the trick. We had some leftover wine in the fridge, so this was a good way to use some of it up.

I added one coarsely chopped onion to soften it. I often use jar garlic as it is so convenient. However, my Costco-sized jar was almost empty, and I couldn’t even scrape out the last of its contents. I added a little water to the jar, shook it up, and poured that liquid into my stew pot. Stews are extremely forgiving.

Now for some spices. Spices add a bit of sophistication to a stew, but you can just use salt and pepper if that’s all you have. There are many spice options, but I added roughly a teaspoon of thyme and rosemary. I also added about 1/2 teaspoon of salt and pepper. I’ll be using some beef base, and that is pretty salty. Additionally, I’ll adjust for salt at the end. You can always add salt, but you can’t remove it. I also added 2 bay leaves. Do bay leaves do anything? They seem to, but I can’t clearly put my finger on what.

I also added a few tablespoons of Worcestershire sauce. This stuff gives the stew umami. Naturally, this is optional.

I added a couple of stalks of celery and some cut-up carrots. How much? As much as you want. I think I have 3 stalks of celery and around 4-5 carrots.

I then added 3-4 peeled and cut-up potatoes. The pressure cooking process will make the potatoes very soft. My mom would boil the potatoes separately and then add them when the stew was done. That is the best practice, but I’m lazy, and I don’t mind soft potatoes.

In goes the browned stew meat. I think I have around 2 pounds, but you can get away with 1 pound if that is what you have.

This is what the pot looks like at this point. You only want to fill a pressure cooker around 2/3rds full. I sometimes exceed that, but that’s not the best practice. Never go all the way to the top; the most I will go is about 3/4 of the way up, and that is definitely pushing the pot. Some foods that foam should only be filled 1/2 way up, such as oatmeal.

Adding beef stock will enhance the stew’s flavor, but it is not a requirement. You can use a homemade stock (best) or a boxed stock. I’m using this beef base, which contains salt. I just realized that my beef base had expired. Alas, I used it anyway, and it was fine.

Here I am adding around 3 cups of stock. If I were using only 1 pound of stew meat, I would add 2 cups of stock. However, you can be flexible here.

Oops, I forgot to add the peeled parsnips. That was the whole reason that I was making a stew. I had a bunch of carrots and some parsnips and wanted to use them up. No worries, I can add them now. When it comes to vegetables, I think carrots and celery are a must. However, you can add whatever else you like. Corn, green beans, peas, other root vegetables; you name it. I really like peas in stew, but my wife hates peas, so no peas for us.

I changed the pot’s control to “pressure cook” and set the timer for 40 minutes. When that is done, I’ll wait 10 minutes before I release the steam for a semi-natural release. Read your pressure cooker’s manual and safety information before operating. To open the pot, the pressure has to be completely down.

You may notice that this electric pressure cooker is not an actual Instant Pot. However, the brands are more similar than they are different. I have had this pot for a very long time, and I’m very happy with it.

If you were doing this on a stovetop, you would bring the mixture to a boil, then down to a gentle simmer (with the pot covered). In that case, you would stir the contents every once in a while. I think you would need to cook it for at least 4 hours under those conditions. Compare that to the total time for the pressure cooker, which was around one hour.

After the stew was done, I mixed a heaping tablespoon of cornstarch in a little cold water and stirred it into the boiling stew to thicken it. Flour could also be used, but cornstarch will give you a clearer final product. I also adjusted the salt and added a little garlic powder (I like garlic). Lastly, I added a few squirts of Frank’s hot sauce. Not enough to make the stew hot, but enough to liven it up a bit. Shhh, that is my secret, don’t tell anyone!

Here, the stew is plated up and served with some garlic toast. It was delicious! It served four of us, with several going back for seconds. There was enough left over for a couple of lunches, too!

Stew is a great way to use up vegetables and to stretch your meat. I hope my descriptions showed you how flexible it can be. There are no real rules, except that you need an onion, celery, carrots, and some stew meat. Build on that theme and make a hearty dish that can feed an army, but also freezes well for easy future dinners.

Mike